Posted on 11/24/2019 2:48:33 PM PST by Widget Jr
Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer Sunday over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL who posed for a photo next to an Islamic State terrorist's corpse in Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said Sunday.
“Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper has asked for the resignation of Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer after losing trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor over conversations with the White House involving the handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher," Department of Defense spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement Sunday.
Controversy continued to swirl around whether or not the Navy would strip Gallagher of his Trident pin, ousting him from the prestigious SEALs after he was demoted from chief petty officer to a 1st class petty officer following his conviction in July. President Trump this month restored Gallagher’s rank and ordered that the Navy halt its internal review of Gallagher's actions from 2017 that resulted in a high-profile war crimes case, for which he was found not guilty of the murder of an Islamic State fighter in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What the hell is going on with senior leadership in the Teams these days?
Instead of celebrating that one of their own was almost completely exonerated at general court martial — and by a board composed largely of Marine Corps combat vet officers (and if there’s one thing Marines are, it’s hard on those they feel have dishonored the naval services by committing a war crime) — and then completely exonerated and restored by President Trump to the rank he’d earned, and deserved to keep, Gallagher’s fellow frogmen try to throw him over the side?
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
He will likely get a one year unaccompanied assignment to the DMZ in Korea followed by retirement.
The real bottom line is that Spencer tried to square the circle and failed. The fault lies with Esper, who initiated the review that Spencer tried to rig in Gallagher’s favor so Trump wouldn’t be put out. Spencer should have said he needed to get a clarification from the Secretary of Defense instead of backing Esper up publicly before the press. But even that might have been seen as insubordination vis-a-vis the SecDef, since Esper had said that Gallagher was about to be metaphorically keelhauled. It’s Esper who contradicted Trump. Spencer merely fell in line with his direct boss.
Well summarized!
You can’t do that.
Your boss can’t have it, and his boss can’t have it.
And “playing” Trump is an insane plan.
Besides Gallagher, there were cost overruns not being handled to the President's satisfaction. Spencer had some messes he did not clean up well.
[It’s not unfair for Spencer to “take the fall” for going behind his superior’s back- and over his head.
You just can’t do that.
As for the nuances of the Gallagher case, they don’t matter. You don’t do that to your boss.]
“It’s not unfair for Spencer to “take the fall” for going behind his superior’s back- and over his head.
You just can’t do that.
As for the nuances of the Gallagher case, they don’t matter. You don’t do that to your boss.”
SECNAV should have had the good sense to fall on his sword after the debacle he created in trying to have it both ways (run Chief Gallagher through a SEAL suitability review board, but engineer him keeping his Budweiser after all was said and done). But he had to be fired, which makes things worse. Also, if he disagreed with his boss all along he should have resigned in protest and gone to the press or written a book or whatever.
Spencer way, way over-thought this one, and got caught in a lie as a result. He should have had the good sense to just shut his suck, salute smartly and say “Aye, aye Mister President!” and execute the directive he knew he’d been given. Self-inflicted gunshot wound on Spencer’s part all the way.
Maybe, IDK.
I assume Psy-ops determined pictures of enemy corpses would not be good.
Maybe Trump over-ruled that , or maybe he decided Gallagher’s case was special.
Gallagher could be expected to obey what was in force at the time, or forgiven for ignoring ROEs the CIC found inappropriate.
I saw him speak late in his career. Fred Smith introduced him. I was impressed.
T love , and appreciate, all that.
Still, Spencer made a flagrant error.
Some things it’s fatal to do.
“Wheels within wheels...”
Excellent news!
Maybe the thing to do, is get off twitter and talk directly the officials responsible for the actions that he wants to be taken. No confusion when you tell them exactly what you, as CinC, want accomplished.
Play with the bull, get the horns.
Boy, howdy regarding Adrienne.
Yep. Not at all fan of Leadership by Tweeting by Trump or anyone else. Military or civilian, communicate your your orders directly and clearly so there is no doubt or misunderstanding.
Tweeting is here to stay, long after Trump leaves the White House.
That is the way it needs to be done. If you want the results that you expect, give them direct orders.
Oh yeah!
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